Fitzpatrick stumbled upon the letters while researching another book on how Americans viewed President Kennedy. Her focus shifted when she remembered the condolence letters and asked the archivist if any were left. Turns out there were boxes of them.

“I was struck by how many people were unified around their television, that’s their memory of this, not only hearing about it but watching the ceremonies that followed, was that one of the many themes it seemed our first national shared moment,” Fitzpatrick told Gwen Ifill in an interview on the PBS NewsHour, which will air Thursday.

Fitzpatrick selected 250 for her book. Here’s a sample of these letters, courtesy of “Letters to Jackie” by Ellen Fitzpatrick, Ecco Publishing.*

A few weeks after her husband’s death, Mrs. Kennedy recorded a message to the American public thanking them for their letters: “The knowledge of the affection in which my husband was held by all of you has sustained me. And the warmth of these tributes is something I shall never forget,” she said on Jan. 14, 1964.

Watch the full interview with Ellen Fitzpatrick on Thursday’s PBS NewsHour.

PBS NewsHour allows open commenting for all registered users, and encourages discussion amongst you, our audience. However, if a commenter violates our terms of use or abuses the commenting forum, their comment may go into moderation or be removed entirely. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not follow these basic guidelines: comments must be relevant to the topic of the post; may not include profanity, personal attacks or hate speech; may not promote a business or raise money; may not be spam. Anything you post should be your own work. The PBS NewsHour reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the comments or emails that we receive. By submitting comments, you agree to the PBS Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.